An excursion aboard a Maine windjammer took a tragic turn when the schooner’s mast broke, killing one person and injuring three others. Thirty-three people were aboard the Grace Bailey, a mile east of Rockland Harbor, when the schooner’s mast collapsed. The schooner’s crew called the New England Command Center for help, and the Coast Guard dispatched lifeboats to the scene.
USCG lifeboats from the Rockland Station arrived at the Grace Bailey where crew members were performing CPR on a woman who’d been struck by the spar. She was transported to shore where she was pronounced dead. Three more injured people were transported to Pen Bay Medical Center in Rockport, Maine.
According to Charlie’s Marine Service owner Charlie Weidman, who arrived on the scene before the USCG, the broken mast had caused head and spinal injuries. “No one trains to have a giant mast break on a schooner,” Weidman told the Associated Press. “Everyone acted with professionalism. Everyone was doing the best they could with the gifts that they had.”
The Coast Guard will be conducting a full investigation into the cause of the mast’s failure.
The Grace Bailey is one of a number of windjammers that ply the waters of the Maine coast during the boating season. You can read about the Grace Bailey here.
